A Day in the Life of a Giant Brown Trout
March 19, 2006
Mr. Hogito was hungry. Being early spring, there was not much life out and about and meals were few and far between. He hadn’t eaten anything in about a week, and then it was only a small chub that he surprised along a shallow flat — hardly enough to sustain his great body for more than a day. He cruised along a rocky shoreline, 20 feet down, hoping to intercept a careless sucker or perhaps a rainbow.
In the light of early dawn, nothing edible exposed itself and Mr. Hogito continued on a parallel track to the bank for another quarter mile. As he rounded the point, the huge brown’s lateral line sensed commotion in the distance and his exceptionally sensitive nostrils picked up a faint scent that made his fins twitch with anticipation.
Mr. Hogito pushed deeper into the cove, guided by his senses, until he came to the mouth of a rushing feeder stream. Four pairs of spawning rainbow trout had taken up residence on the alluvial fan of gravel at the creek’s outlet. Deep in the throws of fish passion, the brightly painted rainbows did not notice the big brown as he closed in from behind. Mr. Hogito paused at the transition line, where the shallow creek poured across the spawning gravel and into the depths of the lake. As the closest henfish dug at the gravel to scour out a nest, several nymphs were dislodged from their rocky lairs and swept into the current, where they passed within inches of Mr. Hogito’s grotesquely hooked snout. In his younger days, he would have snapped up the aquatic insects in one easy motion, but on this day, he had bigger fish to fry.
With a sudden burst of his powerful tail, the giant brown thrust himself out of the depths and onto the shallow bar. His near-starved belly scraping the creek bed and his broad shoulders completely out of the water, Mr. Hogito lunged at the female rainbow. He lost sight of her in the foamy spray of the shallows, but felt the tip of her tail slip, ever so tantalizingly though his deadly jaws. The rainbows scattered and Mr. Hogito quickly reversed his heading and slipped back under the lake’s protective surface.
Still hungry.
The sun was now above the shoreline trees, and Mr. Hogito began to feel the need to retreat to the shadowy comfort of the depths. He swam straight out of the cove and relaxed a bit as the bottom fell away. He continued toward the middle of the lake and sulked just off a rocky pinnacle in 60 feet of water. Not long thereafter, his internal radar again registered movement off in the distance. Instinctively, the big brown sank to the craggy bottom and waited. The commotion closed in and, eventually, he was able to make out a large school of kokanee salmon. Their silvery sides and greenish backs made them nearly impossible to see in the dim light at 60 feet below the surface. The kokanee looked almost translucent and, had they not been moving, may have passed by with being seen.
Nearly delirious with hunger, the brown trout waited for the school to approach. Just as he was about to start his assault, a small, shiny object came into his field of vision. Its enticing wiggle drew the attention of a fat,16-inch kokanee that peeled from the school and inhaled it. Suddenly, the little salmon began to flutter erratically. It pulled away from the school and began steadily climbing toward the surface. Excited by the 16-inch kokanee’s panicky actions, Mr. Hogito pursued it for a few feet and then stopped it cold with a tremendous bite.
The salmon disappeared in a swirling storm of silver scales and somewhere on the surface, an angler reeled in his limp line and could only wonder. ..
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